A New World
by Forestfirekid
Summary: The smallest of changes can change the entire flow of a plot. In a world where Shulk provides a few small changes, the world as planned by a Zanza that has lost his grip on sanity is tossed out the proverbial window while a new one is slowly designed in it's place. Nothing is ever set in stone, not even for gods who may wish that they should be so.


_**Hello fellow fanfiction readers/authors.**_

 _ **It's me, Forestfirekid. I'm out with a new story. My younger brother just got Xenoblade Chronicles for the new 3DS system and after seeing a few of the cut-scenes at the start of the game, I went and searched for all of them on Youtoube. The result was 26 parts, each 20-27 minutes in length. The thing about the game is that all these cut-scenes provide valuable material to write fanfictions, and I just couldn't help myself once this plot bunny came to the front of my mind. I have all intentions to continue the rest of my stories, it's just that I haven't had much in the way of ideas on how I should continue them. I write as ideas come to me and, as such, I have several other fics that are being written. The closest one of my already written stories that is almost ready to be updated is the only story I currently have up for Pokémon, but it's still going to be a while. On another note: I do not own Xenoblade Chronicles in any way, shape, or form.**_

 _ **This is a re-post. A reviewer asked me if I had purposely spelled Kallian's name as 'Dallian' and I had to go check if I had actually gotten the name right. The game, as I said, belongs to my brother and I am rarely allowed to go on it so I get my information off of a wiki dedicated to just Xenoblade Chronicles. Considering how little he is shown/mentioned in the game, I fell that it makes sense that I could have gotten the first letter of his name wrong. Either way, I apologize to the readers whom I left confused to to the misspelling of Kallian's name**_

 _ **Anyway, enjoy.**_

 _A small difference can make everything turn onto it's side. A few small changes can change the whole world. What is a world that can't change; that the smallest of differences don't cause something to go differently. It is a stagnant world; a world that remains the same no mater what happens. This is what happens to such a world when the smallest change, with the addition of a new race and the main focus being female, causes a being's plans to crumble into dust._

– **Line Break -**

Shulk kept her eyes closed, her senses keeping her painfully aware of anything that might harm her. She had always been aware of what went on around her; always had since she had first been found as an infant by Dickson. She had no memories and as much as she has always been thankful to Dickson for saving her life, she ignored him every time he told her that no one would care about her being female. Something always told her that it would be safer to pretend to be male; for all involved, not just her. Here in Alcamoth, the capital city of the High Entia, Shulk's instincts were all on over drive. She was reliving her life since the moment that Dickson had found her and things weren't adding up. She hadn't told any of her companions this; she had only known Sharla and Riki for a sort while and as much as she trusted them to protect her back in a battle, she didn't know them well enough to trust them with personal problems. As for Dunban and Reyn, well, Reyn had never been known to be good with other peoples personal problems and as much as she looked up to Dunban, she didn't know him well enough to trust him.

"Are you alright?"

The question snapped Shulk out of her thoughts, causing her to look up at the source of the voice. Kallian, Melia's elder brother, was looking at her with concern. He had been far more friendly with her and the rest of her companions once they had saved his sister's life from both the assassin and the telethia. Shulk understood the fact that they had proved themselves to him that they were trustworthy. As much as Shulk wanted to trust him in return, the nagging feeling of her instincts telling her something was _wrong (horribly, horribly wrong)_ pushed that want aside. She knew that she probably looked exhausted; her instincts being in overdrive had her far too high-strung on wariness to be able to easily sleep and rest her body. Her companions had already noticed and the fact that someone who didn't know her that well had noticed it too showed just how bad it was getting. There was also the fact that her senses seemed to ignore him completely, so she was always taken by slight surprise if she hadn't noticed him close by before he spoke.

With effort, Shulk heaved a sigh and nodded. "I'm fine."

The look he shot her showed that he didn't believe her at all, but he didn't push it. He still did look at her with concern, though and she couldn't help the slight happy feeling that rose up at the fact that some one other than Fiora cared about her well being. Dunban and Reyn did too, she knew that, but neither were men who showed their concern to others. Sharla and Riki didn't know her well enough to know that the way she was going now was not natural and neither of the males had felt like cluing them into that fact.

"Why are you here," Shulk asked Kallian, just realizing that he had entered the small set of rooms that she had been assigned to, something that he hadn't done yet without knocking first when he had wanted to talk to her.

She was lucky that she only ever changed in the attached bathroom rather than in the room itself and that she rarely – if ever – went without a baggy top, bulky overcoat, a pare of baggy bottoms, and bulky mid-shin high boots. If she had, he'd have figured out with ease that she was female and her instincts were still telling her that it was not yet the right time for that knowledge to be known.

Kallian actually blushed, a pink hew covering his cheeks, and Shulk had to force back the need to make sure that she wasn't actually wearing something other than what she normally did. "The others showed up for dinner and I noticed you were missing. I came to see why."

Dear Meyneth, had she actually lost track of time. ... who was Meyneth and why was she swearing by them. Mentally shaking her head, wishing that her memories hadn't jumbled up her thought process, Shulk heaved herself out of the chair she had been curled up in – she also cursed the fact that she had curled up in a chair rather than on the bed as curling up on a chair was more of a female thing; it was probably also why Kallian had blushed – stumbling slightly as blood rushed back through the limbs that had been denied its life source for who knew how many hours.

"I guess I just lost track of time," she told him as she rubbed at her eyes wishing that reliving her memories in her sleep wasn't as mentally and physically exhausting as it was. "May as well head over there now."

Kallian made a sound of agreement, though Shulk did notice that he had yet to take his eyes of her, even as they left her room and made their way to the dinning hall. She couldn't help but wonder if her exhaustion showed on her face.

"You look as though you haven't slept for the entire month you've been here."

Well, that answered that. Dear Meyneth, had it actually been a month. ... she really should figure out who Meyneth was, if she was going to continue swearing by the person. It wasn't as though she hadn't fallen asleep, it was just that nothing was really being rested. Add that to her increasing sensitivity to the Ether which was making it more and more difficult to fall asleep in general and you could see the problem. She didn't answer him, knowing that, technically speaking, he was telling the truth and that she couldn't tell a lie to save her life. The fact that she hated lying in general was besides the point.

"You haven't been sleeping at all have you," Kallian said with dawning realization. "Is it the visions? Have they been preventing you from getting rest?"

Shulk cringed mentally, knowing that she couldn't get out of answering his questions without breaking her own morals. "No. I only get the visions while I'm awake. It's more that I'm reliving my own past in my sleep and that the experience leaves me exhausted both mentally and physically. The fact that everything prior to fourteen years ago still remains out of my reach seems to exhaust me even more."

She didn't realize that her last sentence had been vocalized until Kallain asked, "You have no memories of your life before the past fourteen years?"

Shulk felt like slapping herself as she came to a stop. Why had she divulged that to someone who was basically a complete stranger? It was personal, extremely so. Not even Dickson, who had saved her from – according to him – freezing to death and had treated her similar to how he would his own child, knew that she had no knowledge of her parents, her family, her early childhood. It was something she had kept to herself. So what was it about Kallian that had caused her to let him in on one of her closely guarded secrets.

Coming out of her thoughts, she saw Kallian standing in front of her, is face showing his concern and worry.

"Forget I said anything," she told him as she stepped around him, ignoring the need to actually let someone in for the first time in the past fourteen years. "Now let's get to the dinning hall before people start worrying about the both of us."

– **Line Break –**

Shulk looked at Metal Face from where she had hit the ground hard as he and Dunban fought. Something was familiar about the way the Mechon was fighting and she shuffled through fresh memories, as though they had all be made the day before. It had three months since she had let slip the majority of what was wrong to Kallian and she had taken to the training grounds in order to keep from verbally attacking anyone, barely coming into contact with her companions. For what ever reason, Kallian had kept seeking her out, though he avoided talking about what they had that day he had come into her rooms. By the end of the second month of their stay in Alcamoth, her sensitivity to Ether had increased to the point that she could no longer go to sleep and it had caused her to start meditating in order try and rest her body both mentally and physically. It worked out better than sleeping had, as it allowed her to choose the memories that she viewed and allowed her to just concentrated on said memory. The down side to the entire thing was that she was also receiving the same visions over and over again. She had yet to figure out if Kallian had noticed what exactly had changed about her situation, but she knew that he had noticed that she was no longer getting constantly more exhausted. Her companions had noticed that fact too. The occasional visit to the library had been also been included during the night hours when she didn't want to practice her swordsmanship skills, especially during the third and forth month since she had continued to become sensitive to the Ether, which had led her to begin to learning the arts that were practiced by the High Entia.

She came to a pause in her memory shuffling as she came across a certain memory. It was one from five years after she had been rescued by Dickson; she had snuck out of class, bores out of her wits as she had read ahead and already memorized the material they were being taught. She had been making her way around the colony quietly, wanting to find her way out so that she could look for scraps but knowing that if she got caught that she'd be not only sent back to class but also be forced to train with seasoned soldiers. She had come across Dunban, and Mumkar practicing. Now as she watched Dunban fight Metal Face, she saw the Mechon overlapping Mumkar.

"You..." she heaved out as she pulled herself to her feet, the Monado clenched loosely in her hand.

Shulk didn't noticed that she had garnered the attention of both Melia and Emperor Soren by suddenly speaking; her attention completely on the Mechon in front of her. No one had the same fighting style, just like how no one was identical in how they acted. It couldn't be coincidence; the style was the exact same and the claws just made that all the more obvious.

Both of the High Entia were looking at Shulk in concern. The had both noticed that the boy had been isolating himself from the others, along with his exhausted state, and they had been relieved when Kallian had managed to pull Shulk out of the state he was falling into. The fact that Kallian had grown to see Shulk as a friend over the past four months also meant that the prince would be on a warpath if something happened to Shulk. There was also something about Shulk that made it seem as though he was not everything he portrayed himself to be. They had yet to figure out what it was, but it was obvious that hiding it was almost second nature to Shulk, meaning that the boy had been hiding it for years, if not his entire life.

Shulk took a few stumbling steps forward, gaining the attention of Sharla and Riki as she did.

"You..."

It came out far louder this time, grabbing everyone's attention, including the attention of the Silver Faced Mechon.

"You... your no Mechon," she voiced her thoughts aloud, causing everyone to look at her as though she had lost it. "Your _Mumkar_."

Everyone continued to look at her as though she had lost it until Dunban's breath hitched as it dawned on him just how she had come to that realization. This caused the others to turn and look at him, only to see him looking at Metal Face, eyes wide with horror. Before Dunban or anyone else could say anything, Metal Fask had started to laugh.

"See that Dunban," the Mechon cackled. "Your replacement figured it before _you_ did and _we knew each other_. How does it feel that you couldn't even figure it out. The claws _practically gave it away_."

She tuned him and the others out as her gaze fell on the silver faced Mechon, ignoring what was going on around her knowing that her instincts would warn her if anyone was in danger. If Metal Mask was Mumkar, then that went that all those with face had once been a Homz, then how many of those whom had lived in the colonies had she and her companions killed? Could Fiora's body have been taken rather than eaten as they had thought and was she now manning a Mechon? Did the faced Mechon even have a choice on whether or not they attacked?

She was snapped out of her thoughts at the feel of her instincts screaming at her to move and the sight of _Mumkar_ aiming for Emperor Soren was all that was needed for her to move with a blur of speed. The sound of Metal coming to a grinding halt against the light of the Monado was deafening and Shulk held back a grunt of effort as she held the claws back. As the claws withdrew, Shulk felt the Monado try and over power her and something try and force her own consciousness to the side, a fury not her own flowing through her. She dropped the Monado, falling to one knee as she brought a hand to her head, gritting her teeth as she tried to keep control of her body.

 _'Let me fight,'_ a voice that sounded suspiciously like Zanza, the being who had been sealed away by the High Entia within Prison Island, sounded out through her head.

 _'No,'_ she snapped back mentally. _'This is my body; my mind. You should not be here; you have no right to be here.'_

Shulk failed to notice that the sound of her dropping the Monado had caught everyone's attention. She also failed to notice that, as she fought back and forth with Zanza, the light of the Monado was flickering and changing color. _Mumkar_ , noticing that the current wielder had dropped the sword, went for the kill only for the silver masked Mechon to get in the way.

"No. We've done what we came here to do. Leave the boy alone."

The sound of the female voice was all that Shulk need to shut out the other conscious completely from her mind and regain full control over her body. She didn't bother grabbing the Monado as her head snapped up in confused disbelief, causing the Emperor and Melia to glance at her. The voice had an echoing quality to it and she recognized both, the memory of where she had heard both going through her mind.

 _ **Flashback**_

 _She was with her father, in a city made of machines. The city looked as though it had long been abandoned, but the thing that stood out to her the most was a statue of a woman and the feel of motherly love that emanated from it weakly._

 _"Papa, why are we here?"_

 _She recognized the voice as her own as her head turned to look at what looked to be a male in his early twenties, black hair falling about his face in a mess and partly covering one of the two ruby red eyes that held slit pupils. The points of his ears peaked out from his hair and the longer strands of his hair had been tied into a neat braid that fell over his left shoulder as turned to look at her. He stood at just over six feet and, dressed in mid-thigh length shorts with a skirt of chain-mail over top that reached to just above his knees, he looked every part the warrior, though his high cheek bones a small nose also made him look every part the noble as well._

 _"We are here to pray to the spirit of the Great Mother, Lady Meyneth. The mother of our ancestors and in turn our race, who tried her best to protect us and the other races from the Great Father, Zanza, when he let go of his grip on sanity. As much as we are organic, like all children of Zanza, we get our physical strength and our advanced mind from her as we are her children just as much as we are his. And those are the basics."_

 _She felt her head turn to look back up at the statue of the woman, no, one half of the Creators of their race and she felt her heart warm at the fact that without this woman her she would not exist._

 _'Thank you Great Mother,' she heard herself think as she knelt in a position of prayer along side her father. "Thank you for caring for when the Great Father wouldn't. Thank you for protecting us when the Great Father turned his back on us. Thank you for protecting life when the Great Father wouldn't.'_

 _As she and her father got up to leave and join the rest of their kin, who had already given their prayers, she could have sworn that someone had spoken back to her prayers._

'Your welcome daughter of my soul. May we meet each other face to face some day soon. And may you come to call me Meyneth like your father's grandmother's grandmother once did. I have never been one for titles, princess of the Bions.'

 _ **End Flashback**_

 _ **Flashback**_

 _She watched as a girl with dirty blond hair led looked up at the sky from where they both sat under a tree on a bench._

 _"I wish it was always this peaceful"_

 _"Yes, I wish it was too,"she replied automatically yet sincerely to the other girls voiced thought._

 _ **End Flashback**_

She snapped out of the memories as she struggled back to her feet and inadvertently bringing the attention of her companions attention back to her as she took several stumbling steps forward _without_ the Monado. The sound of tearing metal indicated that in his attempts to get free, _Mumkar_ had managed to damage the other Faced Mechon.

"Fiora."

The name that came out of her mouth caused both Dunban and Reyn to snap their heads back to the small scuffle between the two Mechon, who – at the sound of her voice – had turned their attention back to her, the silver faced Mechon's chassis having been clawed of showing what looked to be the body of a female Homs inside. The sound of the others breaths hitching as they saw what was inside the Mechon was heard easily in the silence. As the mask covering the face of the female cracked fully through and fell off, she could hear both Dunban and Reyn choke. Right there was Fiora but that wasn't what held Shulk's attention. No, what held her attention was the fact that Fiora's eyes were the same dark ruby with slit pupils that her the man in her first flashback – the first memory she remembered of the time before she had been brought to Colony 9 by Dickson – her father had had; had claimed that according to their lore was identical to that of the Great Mother's, something that she hadn't remembered until this moment.

"No," she voiced out loud, her thoughts in such a mess from the sudden influx of information that was connect to the new memory that she didn't notice how close she had gotten to not only both Mechon but also to the edge of the platform. " You're not Fiora. You're using her body... _but you're not Fiora_."

Her statement had brought the attention back to her and it was in that moment that the others noticed just how close she was to both the Mechon and the edge. Dunban silenced the others before they managed to get even a sound out by throwing his arm out in a stop gesture, having noticed the far off look in Shulks eyes and knew that even the slightest of noises would cause Shulk to go over the edge (he knew this from experience, as he had done so before and it had caused Shulk to fall of the bridge and into the water back at Colony 9. If there hadn't been water, Shulk would not have survived the fall). Not that he wasn't also curious about what was going on of course, but the knowledge that the last time that Shulk had been in this state had resulted in a far better security system for the colonies had placed that curiosity in the back of his mind. He was far more worried about what would happen if either of the Mechon moved as the slightest of movements from them would result in Shulk being thrown off of Prison Island.

"Meyneth."

Everyone almost missed what was said, with how quiet Shulk had said it, but they still heard the name. Their gazes turned to Fiora, who's eyes had started to widen at the name.

"Your _Meyneth_. The Great Mother."

Everyone was confused. What was Shulk talking about? Everyone but Fiora, who's eyes had widened even more in confusion before realization had taken over when she had been addressed by the second title.

"And you child," Fiora's body spoke, but it was now obvious that the voice was not hers, not completely if the echoing factor was anything to go by. "I thought you had died with the rest of your kin, near the icy reaches where the lands connect, almost fifteen years ago when you were all attacked by the telethia."

That caught everyone's attention, especially that of those who had not met Shulk prior to this adventure. Ryne and Dunban had known that Shulk was the only survivor of what Dickson had said was an expedition group, but the others hadn't and now both of them were wondering if Dickson had even told the truth, because an attack by the telethia was not dying of the cold; of the sudden difference in temperature. There was also the fact that Shulk had had no idea what the telethia were until Dickson had given the bare bones of information seven months prior. If what the woman – the voice that was overlapping Fiora's was clearly female – was saying was true, then not only had Dickson lied about what had happened, but Shulk himself didn't remember. If Shulk really had no memories of what had happened then what other memories was he missing?

They all watched the stare down, both confused and worried about what was going on. The fact that there was confusion present on Shulk's face, even though his eyes were still unfocused, told them that something was wrong. Even though he himself had provided the information, it was obvious that Shulk had no idea what said information meant. Something that Fiora – or the being using Fiora's body as a vessel, rather – seemed to notice as well.

"Will you come with me, last of the True Born?Will you come with me back to the birth place of your ancestors?"

The question caused everyone's eyes to widen, but before anyone could do anything, let alone Shulk, _Mumkar_ moved, which caused a chain reaction. _Mumkar_ fell off the edge, Fiora and the silver masked Mechon she was inside of falling over with him, which in turn caused Shulk to loose his balance and fall over the edge.

 _"SHULK!"_

– **Line Break –**

"What do you mean he's _gone_?"

Kallian had spent the past four months close to Shulk, something that his companions had ceased to try and do due to the distance Shulk himself was putting between them. It had taken a while, especially since he had had to learn which topics to avoid if he didn't want for Shulk to avoid him on purpose, but a tentative friendship had formed and then changed into something far more solid. He had grown to like the boy who was clearly still a child, no matter the fact that Homs aged differently, so leaning that something had happened – especially since he had seen the child not only practicing his swordsmanship in the training grounds but also reading the books in the library – that the boy was np longer with his companions was distressing.

"We were attacked by what we had thought to be two Mechon," Emperor Soren told both his son and Alvis, the later of whom was their in the hopes that he would be able to help them track down Shulk's whereabouts. "Shulk was to close to the edge as the two left and fell over the side, though he never hit the water."

The implications of what had happened were plain for anyone who had not had been present at Prison Island to be able to figure out what had happened; one of the two Mechon had taken Shulk as he was falling. Kallian felt the need to skewer something. How had meeting with the being that had been locked away in Prison Island led to a fight and then kidnapping?

"What do you mean by 'what you thought were Mechon'?" Kallian asked, doing his best to keep his fury in check.

"What I fail to understand," Alvis put in quietly. "Is how the Monado is here with us rather than in Shulk's possession. What exactly happened up there?"

 _'_ _ **That**_ _is a very good question,'_ Kallian thought darkly as he looked over the others, all of whom were relatively unharmed though his sister was looking at him warily.

"The Mechon with faces are being manned by – from what we witnessed on Prison Island – Homs that were thought to have been killed and supposedly eaten by the Mechon."

Kallian choked and he sensed Alvis do the same beside him. How had this knowledge escaped them till now? Kallian glanced at Alvis, who's eyes had widened in horror and he understood why. With the amount of Homs that had been declared 'killed in action' during the war with the Mechon, there could be several hundred – maybe even thousands – of faced Mechon and without the knowledge of how they were made to attack their former friends and families, that was a serious problem. Why Alvis had not 'seen' this before now, when they were being told that 'this is what's happening', Kallian didn't know, but the information was important enough that Alvis should have.

"How exactly did you come by this information," Alvis asked, though Kallian was pretty sure that both of them knew the answer to that question.

Emperor Soren closed his eyes. "Shulk identified both. I don't completely know how he –"

"He figured out by comparing fighting data," Dunban cut in causing everyone to look at him. "Shulk's seen both me and Memkar fight before everyone thought he had been killed by the Mechon almost two years ago and Memkar always was distinctive due to the fact that he preferred using claws."

"That time when he skipped out on class," Reyn questioned, catching everyone's attention. When Dunban nodded, Ryne continued in slight disbelief. "The two of you and Dickson went Colony hopping the next day and you and Dickson only returned after the Battle of Sword Valley. That took eight years. Shulk shouldn't have been able to remember Mumkar's fighting style from only seeing the two of you fight that one time. That is if you forget the fact that it was the only time where he went looking for you rather than searching through junk piles when he skipped."

"How did he recognize the girl then," Sharla spoke up.

Kallian felt the urge to smack himself himself. As much as he liked the fact that he was being clued into what had happened, he would prefer getting a summery and then asking about the details. Glancing to the side, he saw Alvis look at him in slight amusement. The two had known each other for years and Alvis had always enjoyed seeing him get riled up. Kallian sent him a glare which portrayed just how amusing he was finding the current situation; not at all.

Dunban sighed, causing Kallian to look back at the eldest of the Homs that had traveled with Shulk. "That is a some what longer story. She's the first person he met when he was brought to Colony 9 by Dickson almost fifteen years ago."

"Does this have anything to do with the fact that he doesn't remember anything before fifteen years ago," Kallian voiced out, his attention fully on the Homs.

Everyone turned to look at him, including, Alvis, his father, and his younger sister. "How do you know that," Dunban asked. "And are you sure that he doesn't?"

Kallian shrugged. "He let it slip by the end of the first month of your stay at the capital. And considering the fact that he let it slip while in a state of exhaustion that was getting worse each day that passed, I'm pretty sure he was telling the truth."

Both Emperor Soren and Melia shared a look. _'Just how close had those two gotten during the past four months?'_ It was well known among the citizens that the eldest of the two royal siblings that had been in line for the throne was difficult to get close to. A friendship, to Kallian, was more or less the distant relationship his mother had with the guards, which meant that it was basically all business, though he did get overprotective if something happened to those he considered friends. His friendship with Alvis was the only exception.

"Damn," Dunban muttered. "The next time I see Dickson, I'm striping him down to his undergarments and tying him to a pillar until I can get some answers."

"What do you mean," Sharla asked, looking slightly uneasy.

Dunban sighed. "First, the lot of you need some background information on me, Shulk, and Ryne and the reason the three of use are this supposedly 'mad' crusade against the Mechon."

He paused and looked about. At seeing the expectant faces, he continued.

"When Dickson first brought Shulk to Colony 9, the kid was unconscious and – according to Dickson – hadn't woken up since he had found him. Considering what had been found, supposedly, basically beside the kid, I took him in and raised him alongside my younger sister."

"Your younger sister?" Melia questioned.

"Yes. Actually most of you saw her earlier. Or at least you saw her body. Fiora."

The last part was added on quietly. It was becoming uncomfortably clear just _why_ Shulk and Ryne had set out to fight the Mechon. Though Kallian and Alvis shared a look. Just _what_ had happened on Prison Island and _why_ was trying to get those who were there to clarify seem to be harder than putting down a telethia single-handedly?

"Anyway, the kid had a nasty habit of reading through everything he could get his hands on. Now that I think about it, I think he actually managed to not only read everything that Colony 9 had but also memorize it. He and Reyn met when Shulk had gone outside of the colony to get some metal from the remains of some Mechon a few years later. As the kid's luck would have it, he managed to come across a small nest of monsters. Reyn had entered the military academy of the Colony the year prior and had just finished running an Ether cylinder to the merchant route when he happened across Shulk."

"The two of us were lucky that we didn't end up spider food," Reyn said with a huff. "Now that I think back, we actually got pretty close to becoming so on our way to Colony six that first month after Metal Face showed up; we ran into the same monster nest. And don't look at me like that Dunban. With what he's been doing, he doesn't really deserve to be called by his name."

Dunban, who had glared at Reyn when he hadn't called Mumkar by name, sighed and closed his eyes. "Yes, well, either way, I have no idea _why_ Shulk had gone that far away from the Colony before receiving actual weapon training, especially without someone who did have weapon training, but ever since, he and Reyn have been like siblings."

"What's this have to do with how he recognized your sister?" Alvis questioned, trying to get everyone back on track.

Dunban rubbed the back of his head with a hand as he shot Alvis an apologetic look. "Sorry. I may have gotten slightly off track. What I'm trying to say is that Shulk and Fiora grew up together and Shulk was the one who made her her first weapons; a set of dual daggers."

"But your sister didn't fight at all," Melia pointed out.

"Robot lady speak," Riki pointed out.

"And because he grew up with her, Shulk easily recognized her voice," Kallian said, starting to understand some of what had happened.

"What I don't understand," Sharla stated, "is who this Meyneth is, why Shulk referred to her as 'The Great Mother', and why Fiora – or Meyneth, who ever she is – referred to Shulk as a 'True Born'? What is a 'True Born' anyway?"

Before anyone could even shrug in response to her question, Alvis had started to cough loudly, having choked on air the moment the name 'Meyneth' had been tossed into the conversation. Everyone looked at him and Kallian, upon seeing that his friend actually seemed to be choking on something, started to gently hit his back in order to help clear whatever was obstructing his airways. After a few minutes, Alvis' coughing fit had calmed down enough for him to start to properly heave in air. It didn't take long for the coughing fit to end after that.

"Are you sure he called her Meyneth?" he demanded.

"Of course we're sure," Melia snapped out, causing her father and elder brother to shoot her a look. "Do you know who this 'Meyneth' is?"

Alvis took a deep breath and closed his eyes, and hand coming up to rub at his forehead. "Meyneth, also referred to as Lady Meyneth, is the creator of life on the Mechonis. She is the soul of the Mechonis which, by technicality, means that she is – in all senses – the Mechonis itself."

Silence greeted this statement. Alvis opened his eyes to see everyone staring at him with wide eyes. As much as he would have preferred to have broken _that_ news to them gently, Zanza had actually managed to chose the worst person to serve as his current vessel. _Why_ he had chosen one of what appeared to be the last remaining True Born he had no idea. The future that he had seen had been thrown out the window completely. That brought another thought to his mind.

"Why are you planning to tie this 'Dickson' to a pillar in naught but his undergarments?" he asked, directing the question Dunban.

Dunban looked startled, but he answered anyway. "Because he told me and the others in charge of the Colony that Shulk was the survivor of an expedition that was looking for the Monado. The thing is, according to whoever is possessing my sister if the dual layered voice is anything to go by, Shulk is the sole survivor of an attack made by the telethia."

Alvis paled. "This attack wouldn't have happened to be close to the icy regions where the lands connect, would it?" he asked weakly.

"If it was," Emperor Soren asked, not liking the color that the royal seer was sporting.

"May Lady Meyneth have mercy on Zanza's being," Alvis breathed out as he closed his eyes, bringing a hand to hold his face. "I do not want to see her reaction the the consequences of this 'Dickson's' actions."

"Alvis," Kallian called out softly. "What exactly is going on?"

Alvis opened an eye and looked at Kallian before he removed his hand and opened the other. "The True Born, during their childhood, are known to adapt to their surroundings. No True Born child has spent their childhood before their coming of age on the Bionis since before Zanza tried to destroy all forms of life, which in turn led to the great battle against the Mechonis."

"What does Zanza have to do with the fight between the Bionis and the Mechonis," Reyn asked, voicing everyone's confusion.

Alvis shot everyone an unamused look. "I seriously doubt that I'm the only one who looked through the memory banks of the killed Mechon, especially considering that the majority of the technology that we have on the Bionis is derived from them in some way."

When everyone choked and looked at him with wide eyes, he looked at them in disbelief. "Really?! I didn't even need to channel my ability of sight to see the past in order to gain the information. We are organic while the Mechon are not, yet all of us need some form of Ether to survive. Have none of you thought about how any of the technology we have first came to exist, even in the barest of the sense before we let our own innovation expand on it?"

At their continued wide eyed looks, Alvis heaved a disgruntled sigh. "It's amazing that we haven't forgotten how to use the technology we do have, if this is how static the races have become," he muttered to himself, something that only Kallian heard. "Zanza is the exact same as Meyneth; he is the _soul_ of the Bionis itself. And like Meyneth, he created the life on Bionis in his image."

That caused everyone to just stare. The implication that the being that they lived on – the being that had created them – was out for the deaths all life in existence, was not a comforting fact.

"Wait a minute," Reyn said loudly, causing everyone to jump as they were forced out of their thoughts. "Your saying that the Mechon aren't just mindless creatures that are out for our deaths."

Alvis nodded briskly. "Even though they are entirely made of metals, they were creations of Meyneth; what she viewed life should be like."

"What's getting me is that our ancestors sealed away a being who was basically a god," Dallian voiced, still trying to wrap his head around it but thanks his foresight of having read the few documents that were in the library that contained High Entia history, he at least knew who Alvis was talking about.

Alvis shifted uneasily, causing everyone to look at him.

"Alvis," Emperor Soren questioned, a small warning in his tone.

"Neither Zanza or Meyneth can exist on the plane of existence without a vessel and even when trying to possess the bodies of the two titans, the two need to have a vessel in order to control the titans. When the the being your ancestors locked away first made the Monado, Zanza used the Monado to possess him."

"Like what Meyneth is doing with Fiora," Dunban asked.

Alvis glanced at him before letting his gaze drift over everyone else who was in the room. "No. Meyneth is gentle about it. She doesn't take over a being, she rests within them as they are born and as they age. When they reach a certain age she informs her host. Her host, from that moment forward, is always aware of her presence. Zanza doesn't do that; he chooses his host based on how sensitive they are to Ether and kills them before taking residence and bringing them back to life which causes the soul of his host to remain rather than pass on. His host is never aware of the fact that they are serving as his host. When the time comes, he goes about destroying the conscience of his hosts soul before replacing it, which is easy for him to do due to the fact that said soul would have passed on and returned to the Ether if he hadn't taken over the body. Zanza is far more brutal."

Stunned silence greeted his explanation. No one said anything for several minutes; all of them were in their own thoughts as they went over the information that had been given, trying to make sense of it.

"He hasn't taken residence in my body has he,"Dunban asked him, his voice slightly panicked.

Alvis snorted. "You have the Ether sensitivity of a rock, which is to say that you can't sense anything outside of the amount of Ether in your being except for sudden major changes in Ether. The majority of the Homs in the present day are the same and the High Entia have always known better than to get anywhere near the Monado while the Mechon avoid the sword out of hate. And as much as the Nopons tend to be more sensitive to Ether in the environment, Zanza wouldn't possess a host that can't properly wield it."

Kallian wasn't liking the direction that this was going, though he noticed that no one else had realized that fact. "You said the majority of Homs. Are you saying that Shulk doesn't that in category?"

Everyone drew in a breath in at that, the cause of Shulk dropping the Monado suddenly becoming clear to those who had been present on Prison Island.

Alvis didn't answer, instead turning his attention Melia. "The term True Born, who said it and to whom?"

"Fiora," Melia answered, confused at were the seer was going with this. "Or I guess in would be Meyneth. Why?"

"She was referring to Shulk," Reyn added.

"If Meyneth wasn't planning to try and physically make Zanza regain sanity, she's probably going to willingly do so now," Alvis groaned out. "Has he lost all forms of intelligence."

"Alvis," Kallian snapped.

Now was not the time to go curse off a god, especially when said god had intentions of wiping out all living beings and could very well be in the process of taking over his current host.

"If Shulk truly is a True Born, then Zanza could not have killed him and then taken residence within him. A True Born's soul, unlike those of the creations of Meyneth and Zanza, doesn't linger once their heart stops beating though it does become on with the Ether. They are also far more sensitive to Ether than even the Telethia, though the sensitivity depends on which lands the grew up in and how long they did so before they came of age. If Shulk truly is a True Born, then Zanza is going to have difficulties in taking control of his body and that's only if Meyneth doesn't toss him out of Shulk's body before he has the chance to do so. If the telethia did indeed kill the True Born in the icy regions on Zanza's orders, then the attacks by the Mechon may actually be retribution for those deaths. This had to have been a spur of the moment type of action, Lady Meyneth has never taken attacks on the True Born by Zanza without hitting him back ; Zanza must have been desperate," The last sentence was muttered.

Alvis turned his attention to Dunban. "How old was Shulk when he was brought to your Colony?"

"He looked to be around four and Dickson claimed that his birthday was in January,"Dunban quickly said, eager to figure out if Dickson was telling the truth or not.

Alvis thought over that piece of information before he paled. "Not possible... not even Zanza would... but then it would make possession easier... would force her to come of age earlier..."

"Alvis."

Kallian didn't snap this time. Alvis' reaction and mutterings had caused him to worry and said worry was obvious in his tone.

"What do all of you know about the True Born."

"None of us knew the term until we heard it earlier today," Sharla stated. "What we know is what you've already told us, which is little."

"While we are creations of Bionis and the Mechon are creations of Mechonis, the True Born – also known as the Bions – are their _children_ ," Alvis provided, causing many eyes to widen. "Meyneth gave birth herself to the first of the Bions. It doesn't matter who they reproduce with, the children of the Bions were always full blooded Bions. Bions don't die like the creation of Bionis do; they die either because they are killed in battle or because the choose to return to the Ether. The True Born age in a similar fashion to the creations of Meyneth, though the way they are raised is far different. The Bionis is made up mostly of Ether while the Mechonis is not, which is way her creations can last on far less Ether than we can. A child of the race of Bions come of age when they turn six hundred years old," Alvis paused to open his eyes, having closed them at some point, and he was met with the sight of stunned looks.

As much as he would have rather kept the information to himself, it was important for them to know it before he gave them the reason why they needed it, so he pushed on."Back before Zanza decided to eradicate life, he kept control of the amount of Ether he let out which allowed for the Bions to easily travel on the Bionis, though they were careful with who their children interacted with. After the Great Battle, what was left of the Bions lived on the Mechonis until they came of age. The reason for this was no matter the fact that those those of age could handle an Ether rich environment and different races with ease, their young could not. If the young interacted with the races of Bionis, they came of age at what would be considered of age for the race that they had had contact with. Their was also the fact that Zanza let the Ether that made up the Bionis run rampant, which meant that if the young came into contact with such large amounts of Ether they'd become far more sensitive to it and their sensitivity to Ether directly affected how much they slept. That's ignoring the side affects that might pop up do to the Ether rich environment. They referred to Meyneth as the Great Mother and Zanza as the Great Father, though after the two had fought, the stopped referring to Zanza in any way, shape, or form."

There was several minutes of silence before Riki spoke. "Why you tell us this?"

"Because a True Born that is of age or older tends to look like they are in their late teens. The only True Born at the time they were attacked and wiped out by the telethia that looked like they were four was the daughter of Lord Tyne; Meyna."

Alvis took out a folded picture out of his pocket that showed the child in question, unfolding it and showing it to them. The girl's chest was wrapped in bandages and she was wearing what looked to be an outfit made of white fur. The skirt came down to just above her knees, slits going up on either side in order to provide movement and showing that she wore shorts made out of some unknown flexible material underneath. She wore both arm and leg warmers made out of the same furry material as her skirt, going from wrist to elbow and from ankle to knee on the limbs in question. Even the top she was wearing was made out of the white fur, barely covering her back but falling over her shoulders and just over her chest, tied together with the thin cords of leather. Short, straight, snow white hair fell in choppy layers around the child's face, bangs falling just slightly over pure silver eyes that held slit pupils. She looked to be four.

"This picture was taken when she turned one hundred and fifty, two years before the last permanent True Born settlement was attacked by the telethia."

"She looks just like..." Reyn breathed out as the others looked at the picture with wide eyes.

"... Just like Shulk," Dunban finished, rubbing a hand over his face. "Minus the tattoo that looks like the Monado at the junction between the neck and the right shoulder."

Alvis' eyes narrowed in thought. "A seal to seal away memories and to change the the color of the eyes and the shape of the pupils, connected to the spirit of the Monado. Someone seems to have thought some things through."

"So homhoms no boy. Homhoms girl."

"Why would Shulk hide his gender though," Reyn asked out loud.

Everyone looked at Alvis. "With no memory, her instincts – which are far sharper for the True Born than it is for any of the other races on either the Bionis or the Mechonis – would have risen to the front, which means that she would have done anything to protect herself. With her being as young as she was, being a boy would have meant that she would have been taught to protect herself from danger sooner, something which is common in all the races that were created by the Bionis. Though it looks like Meyna is far more in tune with her instincts than normal for a True Born; most would have stopped hiding their gender once they thought could properly take care of themselves, ignoring their instincts. The fact that she was still pretending to be a boy is curious."

Throughout his explanation, Alvis kept his eyes on Kallian. The royal rarely cared for those aside from his father and Melia and the fact that he genuinely did so for Meyna – who had, until now, been known as Shulk – was interesting. The fact that Meyna herself had not tried as hard as she had with the others to keep him away – he was not a stalker, thank you very much, he just had a very huge investment in how the future may or may not turn out –, especially with how much she listened to her instincts, meant that the girl's instincts might have felt at ease with his presence, enough so that she had easily let slip something that she hadn't to those that she had viewed as family for years.

Emperor Soren's eyes narrowed as something suddenly came to the front of his mind. "How do you know all this."

Alivs stiffened slightly at the question, knowing that his choice would shape the rest of the future; that was, if Zanza's mistake hadn't already ruined the future that the Bionis had been aiming for. It didn't take more than a second for him to make his choice.

"The ritual that the High Entia preform – involving a Homs that is not sensitive to Ether beyond the basics – for there to be a seer for the royal family is the transference of the soul of the Monado into a willing host."

It was Kallian who understood him first. "You mean that –"

Alvis nodded. "Yes. I am the soul that makes up the weapons that Meyneth and Zanza used when the Bionis and the Mechonis fought and the being that Zanza continuously draws upon in order to see future events. In both forms, I am the Monado."

 _ **And that's a wrap for this chapter.**_

 _ **This one was entertaining to write, especially since I got it done within three days of having the plot bunny bounce into my head. I will state again that I want reviews that contain constructive criticism. I don't like it when I'm asked to update through reviews, as I have no intention of leaving any of my stories unfinished; it's just that ADD is hard to deal with and I can't keep my attention on just one story at a time. The story is a total of 8'751 words long, a full fifteen pages.**_

 _ **This story is going to be AU if the small blurb at the start of the story in italics didn't clue anyone into the fact. Just through watching the cut-scenes, I didn't like how the story went from after a certain point. There was a happy ending to the game, sure, but so many characters died when I personally think they shouldn't have. By changing things and not killing them off, I have created an alternate universe that will go the way I want it to (which is the entire point of fanfiction). The pairing has already been chosen and was hinted at throughout the chapter. I was rather depressed at the fact that the game creators killed Kallian off. Even though we saw little of him and that he wasn't one of the playable characters, he was my favorite character in the entire game along with Shulk. The gender change is me stating that females can be just as dangerous and proactive as males, no matter what others know or want to think.**_

 _ **I will most probably take down and re-post this chapter at some point. No matter how many times I re-read one of my works, I find things that need to be changed – from spelling and grammar mistakes to adding, removing, and changing whole paragraphs. I've had people PM me due to the amount of times I re-post the same chapter and I letting all my readers know to expect it and to actually take the time to re-read the chapter; something could have changed within the story that might leave you confused later on.**_

 _ **Forestfirekid**_


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